What digital media will look like in 2017 – highlights from PwC’s report

A leading consulting firm just put out its annual report on the entertainment and media industry. Here’s some highlights, including ones that show why it’s a good time to be in the content business.

Anyone with a smartphone — or just a pulse — is aware that broadband access and second screen devices are changing how we consume content and entertainment. But sometimes details are helpful. Consulting firm PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) today offered up some details about where the digital media market is going and how companies should respond.

The report comes in 13 segments, ranging from video games to internet advertising (my colleague Laura Owen has the ebook predictions here). We’re digging into some of those but, in the meantime, here’s some highlights from the big picture entitled “Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2013-2017 .. Summary of Key Themes”

Consumers are cord-cutting, in control — and confused

PwC says a plethora of choices has trained consumers to expect to receive media and entertainment when and where they want it. This means traditional forms of content packaging — like cable TV subscriptions — are becoming less tenable: “it is the connected consumer who is now really in control … cord-cutters are now being joined the ‘cordnevers’, a younger generation who would never think of paying for TV.”

But the report (citing people in Singapore who pay for pirated content even though a legal version was available for free) also suggests that the volume of content is leaving consumers “confused.” This presents an opportunity for companies that can help people discover and navigate all this media.

Advertising will be enormous — if the industry can figure out the data thing

Traditional advertisers have been alarmed at how the consumer audience has scattered to consume an infinite variety of content across multiple screens. But PwC sees huge opportunities if the industry can become “platform-agnostic” and tap into a growing wealth of consumer data. Interestingly, the report plays down “big data” hype in favor of (emphasis mine):

granular, small data— derived through analytics—that gives insights into customers’ actual and likely behavior in response to a particular message or experience. One of the most exciting areas is the emerging opportunity around the second screen, which has huge potential for building not just consumer engagement, but also especially in combination with mobile wallets eCommerce transactions.

Likewise, the advertising and media industry must solve the problem of credible, cross-platform metrics. Right now, plenty of people are proposing standards to measure online audiences but there is no single, widely-accepted number like there is for TV.